willysmjeeps.com

Gentlemen;

After rebuilding my starter and getting our M38 back on the road, now my speedometer is not working properly. It worked fine before I reconditioned and rewired the instrument cluster. I have reinstalled the cable on the back of the speedometer at least three times, but it stuck on 20 mph twice and now will not move off zero.

My question is...what am I missing? What should I try now?

Any help by the group would be appreciated. Thanks.

Regards;

Thomas Schmelter
Charlotte, NC

Thomas,

Have you lubricated it? A low indication followed by a zero indication may indicate that it is too late, and the cable has seized and snapped.

Dave

Disconnect the cable at speedo. Can you turn/spin the tip of the cable? If yes the cable is probably broken. If no the cable is probably not broken but now disconnect the bottom end. Can you turn/spin the cable now with both ends free? No, the cable has frozen inside the housing. Yes and both ends turn the cable is probably OK.

If cable and housing are ok and lubed check the speedo. Take an old cable end or a cable drive end from a repair kit and chuck it in a variable speed drill. Insert it in the back of the speedo and run the drill slowly and accelerate it smoothly while watching the speedo. If the speedo indicator moves up and down scale with the drill RPM then the speedo is OK.

If the speedo and cable both check ok you need to remove the driven gear from the transfer and inspect it.

Wes;

Thanks. In my last inspection of the speedometer cable, it was very loose. I pulled on it at the instrument cluster end and it came our of the rubberized sheath. The cable had severed about 10 to 12 inches from the transfer case.

I have ordered a new cable and will install it this weekend. Hopefully, this will solve the problem.

Thanks again for all your help.

Thomas
Charlotte, NC

Wes;

Replace the old speedometer cable the other day and it now works fine. Had some difficulty getting at the cable nut on the transfer case side, but it finally broke free and allowed me to install the new cable without much difficulty.

While inspecting the old cable, it was cut and creased about 18 inches from the end. This is about where the old cable inside looked frayed and broke.

Thanks again for all your help.

Regards;

Thomas
Charlotte, NC

Hello Thomas,
That type of damage usually occurs during installation of the cable assembly or during an engine removal. I hope you installed a complete new cable assembly that included the outer sheath. The cable should have been cleaned and lubed with speedo cable lube if it was an old NOS unit.

I used the same oil as the transmission. I conected the cable on the transfercase, disconect the cable after the speedometer, and let some oil in the cable, nearly 3 years ago and no problems yet. We did the same with the 1942GPW je just restored

Erik

Wes, Erik;

10-4...got it. Thanks for the additional information. I will lube the cable this weekend before I take my next spin.

Regards;

Thomas
Charlotte, NC